Nnemkadi Ogwumike carries Stanford past Duke, into Final Four

FRESNO, Calif. -- Nnemkadi Ogwumike hoisted the regional championship trophy high into the air with both arms and showed it off for all the Stanford fans to see.

Not quite a Mile High. She hopes that comes next.

Ogwumike will end her sensational senior season right where she has the rest: at the Final Four. In Denver this time.

Ogwumike made it happen on both ends of the floor with 29 points and nine rebounds Monday night despite constant double-teams, sending top-seeded Stanford past No. 2 seed Duke 81-69 in the Fresno Regional final for the Cardinal's fifth straight Final Four berth.

"This started before I even came to Stanford. I always wanted to be part of the culture," she said. "This never gets old. Not a lot of teams get to say that they've gone. For me to get to say I've been four times, that's a lot to ask for."

Little sister, Chiney, did plenty to seal the Denver trip, too -- along with everybody else. Chiney Ogwumike grabbed 17 rebounds to go with 12 points and freshman Amber Orrange came through with 13 points and four assists as the Cardinal extended their school-record winning streak to 32 games.

They all hope there will be one more piece of hardware to haul home to The Farm before Nneka Ogwumike is through.

Bring on Brittney Griner and unbeaten Baylor (38-0).

"We would love to hoist that trophy up a Mile High," Chiney Ogwumike said. "Coach is like, 'Anything's possible, you never know, don't count us out.'"

Stanford (35-1), looking for the program's first national title since 1992, will play Sunday night against the Lady Bears at the Pepsi Center.

"We don't get the chance often to be an underdog and totally overlooked," Cardinal coach Tara VanDerveer said.

Chelsea Gray had 23 points, four rebounds and four assists and Shay Selby scored 11 in her final college game for Duke (27-6), which fell short of reaching the program's first Final Four since 2006. The Blue Devils never got clicking on offense the way they had in their three NCAA wins.

"It was a good run," Selby said. "I think this one probably hurt the most. When you're a sophomore or junior, it's, 'Oh, you have next year.' I have no next year. Hopefully I can say I left something with them that will help them for next year."

The projected No. 1 pick in the WNBA draft, Nneka Ogwumike scored in the paint, on the perimeter, on leaping putbacks and even by knocking down a pretty 10-foot turnaround jumper late in the first half as the Cardinal built a comfortable 40-25 lead at the break.

"It was unfortunate for us. We tried to defend the inside and the outside. They hit some nice shots," Duke coach Joanne P. McCallie said.

Stanford boasted a strong rooting section that made the three-hour trip from the Bay Area to the Save Mart Center, including Cardinal football coach David Shaw and his wife, Kori. The couple sat alongside former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice.

In a matchup dubbed "nerd on nerd" by Chiney Ogwumike for the schools' rigorous academic standards, Stanford's smart girls aced their latest final. But this group has its sights set on winning two more to make good on the most important test and give Hall of Fame 26th-year coach VanDerveer another long-awaited championship.

Just as she has wanted all season during a challenging schedule featuring games with Connecticut, Tennessee, Texas and Xavier, VanDerveer got contributions from most everybody in a balanced effort.

Joslyn Tinkle knocked down two 3-pointers in the opening five minutes and also made an early steal, then hit another 3 with 4:26 left that put Stanford ahead by 13. She finished with 13 points, four rebounds and three assists.

On Saturday, Nneka Ogwumike almost single-handedly carried the load, scoring 39 points in a 76-60 regional semifinal win over South Carolina.

"What I really liked about this game is we got contributions from different people," VanDerveer said.

Gray, with another 50 or so family and friends cheering the guard who grew up about 75 miles north in Stockton, converted a three-point play with 10:46 remaining to pull Duke within 52-44, but the Cardinal answered yet again. Toni Kokenis rolled in a 3 on the other end.

Selby, who had a quiet night until midway through the second half, made a three-point play with 9:48 to go to keep her team close. But Duke missed three key scoring opportunities the next time down.

The Blue Devils switched to a zone in the second half after that same move worked so well in a 74-47 rout of St. John's, but Orrange and Kokenis successfully drove and dished -- and they also handled Duke's trap press. Kokenis had eight of Stanford's 21 assists.

"First, we allowed them to get 81 points. We're not going to beat a team if it doesn't start on defense," Gray said. "They're a very strong group. If one doesn't have the shot the other one is looking for them."

Elizabeth Williams, Duke's star 6-foot-3 freshman playing with a stress fracture in her lower right leg, quickly scored to make it 48-39. She scored 12 points while playing much of the game in foul trouble.

Stanford got a scare with 6:51 left in the first half when Nneka Ogwumike scored on a drive to make it 30-16 and then turned into Kathleen Scheer's right elbow. She briefly went down and took a seat for all of 1:23.

Stanford began the game 7 for 11 and had assists on each of those baskets, and the Cardinal limited Duke to one attempt thanks to Chiney Ogwumike's six rebounds in the opening 8½ minutes. Stanford held a 9-3 rebounding advantage after getting outboarded 38-36 against South Carolina two nights earlier. That became a focus for both teams in this game.

Duke was held to just 39.7 percent from the field, going 3 for 14 from 3-point range. That was a big change for a Blue Devils team that had shot above 50 percent in the first half of its previous six games, and went 53.7 percent overall Saturday night to follow up its season-best 65.6-percent performance from the field in a 96-80 second-round win over Vanderbilt in which they dished out 28 assists.